Plot Synopsis

Hosted by Michael Emerson, this three-episode series explores the quest to understand what the world is made of and to identify, understand and organize the basic building blocks of matter. Using re-enactments, replicas of original lab equipment, and each scientist's own words, THE MYSTERY OF MATTER reveals how these people changed our perception of the elements, including: Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, whose discovery of oxygen -- and their radical interpretation of it -- led to the modern science of chemistry; Humphry Davy, who made electricity a powerful new tool in the search for elements and whose showmanship dazzled London audiences; Dmitri Mendeleev, whose Periodic Table brought order to the growing number of elements; Marie Curie, whose groundbreaking research on radioactivity revealed that elements can change identities -- and atoms contain undiscovered parts; Harry Moseley, who used newly discovered x-rays to put the Periodic Table in a whole new light; and Glenn Seaborg, whose discovery of plutonium opened up a whole new realm of elements. PBS premiered this series on Wednesday, August 19, 2015, showing all three episode back-to-back from 8-11pm (check local listings).